UPDATE: Late Tuesday evening, Republicans announced they would postpone revealing what's in the tax bill until Thursday. “In consultation with President Trump and our leadership team, we have decided to release the bill text on Thursday," said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, in a statement. "We are pleased with the progress we are making, and we remain on schedule to take action and approve a bill at our committee beginning next week.”
It’s been a crazy week in Washington. In the midst of three federal indictments , new revelations about the Russian election dossier, and a Halloween costume parade, House Republicans are still struggling with the details of a new tax plan that was expected to be unveiled Wednesday.
With less than 24 hours to go, few details have emerged, including plans to lower the cap on 401(k) contributions, repealing the state and local tax deduction, limiting the estate tax, and a highly contentious proposal to raise taxes for millionaires — something that might deviate from the Republican brand.
“Look, the Democrats want to raise taxes, and really create obstruction, and the Republicans want to lower taxes and we want to get rid of regulations,” President Trump told reporters at the White House Tuesday. “I’ve gotten rid of more regulations in the first nine months than any president has for their term in office. That’s a big statement, but we’ve really just begun.”
The question remains — will all this hubbub in the White House impact the president’s agenda?
Rep. Stephen Lynch joined Jim Braude and Margery Eagan on Boston Public Radio Tuesday to discuss.
“There’s still some major disagreement within the Republican caucus, that’s been one of the problems we have here,” Lynch said. “We can’t really engage in a dialogue of potential compromise, because we get the White House version, then we get the [House Speaker] Paul Ryan version, and then we get the Freedom Caucus version of how they see things.”
“Sometimes it’s difficult to discern which version is actually going to be put into the legislation,” Lynch continued. “Right now, we have been given very little information and very little meaningful detail with respect to this proposal that’s supposed to be dropped tomorrow.”
According to Lynch, two key issues could have the power to stop the GOP tax plan in its tracks: a partial repeal of the state and local tax deduction, which many lawmakers say would hurt their constituents who rely on the provision, and a measure that would limit Americans' abilities to use their 401(k)s for retirement.
“Those two are enough to bring the bill down if they don’t address it," Lynch said. "So we’ll have to see what’s in the details tomorrow.”
To hear Rep. Stephen Lynch’s full interview with Boston Public Radio, click on the audio player above.
